Safecracker Part 1 - Escape Artist
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: Part one of the saga. Harry discovers his magical abilities early and uses them to help him get out of the Dursley's home. Turning to crime so he could raise the money to finally escape the Dursleys once and for all, Harry takes his first steps into freedom
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Harry Potter. I just own this story, so any mistakes are mine alone.

Please let me know what you think.

* * *

Safe-cracker.

Escape Artist.

_There is no such thing as magic, _the golden rule of having a quiet life at the Dursleys. He must have heard his aunt and uncle say it about a thousand times while he had lived with the Dursleys. Even the merest _mention _of the word _magic _would be enough to get him beaten by his uncle, and his aunt would shriek at him.

And yet, as Harry sat grinning at the Cupboard door, watching as with a flick and a gesture of his hand, the lock on the door slid back and the door opened, he couldn't think of anything else which had unlocked the door to his cupboard.

Cautiously Harry walked out of the tiny cupboard, stretching his arms and his legs as he quietly walked out into the hall and then into the living room, mentally cursing the Dursleys for turning off all the lights, though he knew if he so much as turned one on and one of them came downstairs he may as well not live anymore, he resisted the urge to turn a light on so he could see clearly. In any case, the only light on was coming from the inside of the cupboard itself, so he wasn't that worried.

He pulled back the curtains so he could see out over the street. The night was beautiful with the moonlight clearly shining over the rooftop tiles, casting a rough appearance over them. He felt the light was ruined slightly by the streetlights glowing brightly out there, which cast a more harsher light compared to the soft lighting of the moon.

But the street looked still, quiet. The night was casting truly incredible shadows all over parts of the front gardens of every one of the Dursley's neighbours; in the daylight, the gardens were clear and everything was neat and tidy, and although Harry found Privet Drive to be mundane and dreadfully boring since no-one seemed to give any thought at all to the idea that was individuality and no-one seemed to get the gist you didn't need to be like everyone else in order to have a good life, the same could not be said about the view at night. In the darkness of the night, the shadows seemed to stretch forever, making the front lawns look more interesting than the boring flat plains of grass that existed in the morning, each blade straight and tall and this much high.

Harry turned and looked around the darkened living room, letting in some of the moonlight. The room looked so different without the Dursleys anywhere near it, and the eight-year-old boy couldn't help but admire it.

For a long time he had known something weird was happening around him; those weird events at school, here… Always the Dursleys had screamed at him, called him _'freak' _ and they either beat him black and blue, heaping verbal and mental abuse down on him and starving him. Sometimes it was all of that.

And yet…whatever these weird events were around him, they never stopped. No matter how many times the Dursleys beat him, screamed abuse at him, and the neighbours turned a blind eye while the teachers were, strangely, oblivious until that day he had begun to accept the fact they didn't care about him despite being supposed to, the events still happened.

One day, he had been reading a book in the school library. It was a Roald Dahl book entitled _Matilda, _and for the first time ever he had found a book about someone who lived much like he did; an outcast in an unpleasant family, different in every respect, scorned and hated by everyone in the family.

(It had been tempting for him to play those punishing pranks on his family, but he had decided it wasn't a good idea, but some of those pranks Matilda had played on her father had been well deserved, and it had made Harry laugh a little bit, it was only a pity Mr Wormwood hadn't learnt anything from the experiences.)

The school was only slightly similar, only in the titular character's case, only one teacher was unpleasant, though Harry was uncertain if that was the right word to describe Miss Trunchball.

But the striking similarity with him and Matilda were there was a strange _power _they both shared. Like him, Matilda had _no idea _what it was, only that it existed.

She had learnt how to master the power she had, and he had sought to do the same thing. The only trouble was he had no idea how to do it, and he had tried. Harry smiled as he remembered those little experiments he had undertaken in the Cupboard under the Stairs after the Dursleys had gone to bed.

None of them had worked, but for Harry, that wasn't a problem.

It had given him the chance to see what he could do at that point, and it had convinced him to watch and wait and see how he was feeling when the next weird event came. He had gotten the idea it was something to do with emotion when he had cast his mind back to see how he had felt during those times, but even with that knowledge he had opted to wait to see if his theory was correct.

In any case, as he had thought to himself at the time, he wouldn't have long to wait.

And he didn't, Dudley once more played that stupid game of his. _Harry Hunting _was starting to get old, but truthfully Harry enjoyed being able to outthink his moron of a cousin and his equally stupid friends. The only problem was there were times where his luck just ran out, and he got beaten up simply because he hadn't been quick enough to getaway.

In this case, Harry had been wondering whether or not he should let himself be caught, anything to let him find out how this power worked. But as he had run, terrified from the gang, something amazing happened. He had been running down one of the side streets, frightened and scared of being caught, and then suddenly _he had been on the rooftop of one of the buildings. _It brought back memories of how he had found himself on the top of the school roof. Only this time, instead of drawing attention to himself, he had laid down on the top of the roof and made himself as flat as he could possibly be, and he had waited until the gang was gone.

Harry had laid on the top of the flat roof for about an hour, and then he had the new and very real problem of finding a way down. There had been no windows he could clamber through, but there was a drain pipe. Fortunately, it had been a metal one and looked strong enough certainly to take his weight. It had been easy to slide down, and from what he had seen from the rooftop there was a simple back gate that looked easy enough to get through.

Once he was down, he immediately got out.

But, as he looked back, he remembered how happy he had been on the rooftop. Yeah, being able to run away from his cousin and the gang was always a cause for celebration, but while he had been lying there, he had realised he had been frightened. Fear was the key, but while he had processed that fact and reminded himself it wasn't the first time he had been afraid and something had happened. But at the same time, he realised fear was only one of the feelings he had always felt during those moments. He remembered how furious he had been when the teacher had mocked him during the class where Harry had turned their wig blue.

Anger and fear, both seemed to be the triggers for the strange events.

When he had gone back to the Cupboard, he had once more started the experiments. He didn't need to look too far to find the type of memories he would need to make the power work either. He had about eight years worth of terrible memories to use to fuel his experiments, and he had chosen the one where Dudley had punched him in the face, only for him to be blasted off as if a gust of wind from a hurricane had smashed him away. It had resulted in one of the _worst _beatings he had ever endured, and he remembered his terror as he wondered if he would be killed.

Harry had started using the experiments to move objects with his mind, using the Matilda novel for a base. Once he had tapped into the memory, he remembered wishing the toy figure he was using would move to the left…. it moved alright, it had shot into the wall! Harry remembered how surprised and amazed he had been when he had seen the result of the experiment.

He had assumed the toy would only move a few millimetres, not rocket that fast into the wall. Surprise and amazement had disappeared quickly when he realised the noise might have disturbed the Dursleys. But his relatives had been laughing their heads off at some stupid TV show they had been watching, so he was safe.

But once the feeling of danger had passed, he had been happy. The experiment had been a success.

Once he had carried out that experiment, he had conducted others, and as he had gone along, he had continued to master his abilities. Everything he had done since he had discovered the key to unlocking his strange power had been controlled, and he had usually always conducted the experiments here, in the house, in the cupboard under the stairs which was ironically the only place he could actually do something without the Dursleys scrutinising him.

He found he could, if he concentrated, create a ball of light in the palm of his hand - only for this night there was more than enough light for him to see with even if he knew it would be helpful - and he could summon things into his hands. All he needed to do was to just hold out his hand, mentally command the thing he wanted, and it came to him. At first, it hadn't been easy since he had been reliant on using the memories of his time at Number 4 to fuel them.

However, he had learnt the more he used the power, the easier it came.

Harry had been experimenting with the power again in the cupboard. He had been experimenting with the locking bolt on the cupboard door a few times to see if it would be just as effective, and it was. While he had been practicing with the bolt, he had also tried to see if he cast two _spells _at the same time (he had no other name for it, and besides it felt good, being able to spite his relatives and them not even being aware of it), and he found that he could, although he had never done it before, and so he had felt drained as a result. He had turned the ordinary electric light back on when he had felt more drained, but he decided to continue experimenting with multiple spells at the same time, so he could get used to using them at once and hopefully not get tired.

Shaking off his memories, Harry walked into the kitchen, thankful there was enough moonlight for him to see around the room clearly, and he walked to the fridge and opened it. He was instantly chilled to the bone by the cold coming from the inside of the fridge, but his mouth practically watered at the shelves stocked with food. Harry knew he would need to be careful if the Dursleys noticed too much of the food was missing they would suspect him of being the thief even if he hadn't touched anything.

Hesitantly, Harry reached out and took some of the food out of the fridge, and he took it back to the cupboard after closing the fridge door. He closed the cupboard and he flicked his hand to re-lock the door.

Harry was just about to tuck into his stolen food when his blood chilled and he pricked his ears. He had just heard something on the second floor. Immediately, he hid the food, thankful he had not taken anything that stank or melted during his little heist. Suddenly he heard the sound of someone heavy coming down the stairs, and he heard someone breathing loudly. Harry kept very still, and he lay down on the pillow, hoping Uncle Vernon was just coming down for a glass of water or something like that, and he had no reason to open the cupboard door.

But if he did… Harry closed his eyes and waited for it to be over. He heard footsteps on one of the stairs directly over his head as his uncles bulk lumbered down them. His uncle reached the ground floor and walked through the hallway into the kitchen while Harry lay on the small cot and prayed his uncle didn't suddenly throw open the door.

He heard the sound of rushing water and then his uncle's loud swallowing, which sounded like a river of water going down a drain. After hearing his uncle pour in freshwater a few times before he went back upstairs to bed, Harry let out a deep but silent sigh of relief under his breath before he yawned tiredly.

It was late, and he was very tired. But at the same time, Harry couldn't help but still think.

He had done it, he had managed to unlock the cupboard door. It had been a logical step in his experiments, and yet at the same time, he had heard his uncle coming down the stairs, frightening him to death. It made him realise two things. Firstly he would need to find a way of using this power to protect him, although he had no idea how he was going to find ways of making his powers do that. Harry shrugged to himself. He would think about that later, in the meantime, he had to look at what he had also realised.

He had a way to escape.

Would anyone be amazed that any abused child would want nothing more than to find a way to escape? As the realisation spread through his mind, Harry thought about the possibility.

_What if I can escape? It should be so simple; just use the power to unlock the cupboard door. Then I just need to either go through the back door or the front. No problem there. _

But just as soon as the thought entered his mind, Harry realised it wouldn't be so simple; he would need to spend time planning out an escape. He would need money to survive, he would need to work out where he was going to go. At the same time, he needed to see just what he could do. Harry closed his eyes and mentally groaned at the thought, and he realised he really did need to form a plan.

_Oh, this is going to be difficult, _he realised, but he wasn't surprised. In the meantime, Harry decided he would just continue to experiment with his new powers, see just how far he could take them, and along the way, he would plan a way for him to escape.


	2. Chapter 2

A Demon Headmaster inspiration ahead.

* * *

Safecracker.

It was funny, when he had begun to experiment with his abilities, Harry had little idea of what it could do; he could unlock doors with a thought, he could create a ball of light in the palm of his hand, but as he continued to practice he quickly came to realise how limited Number 4 was when there were so many opportunities outside the house.

The discovery of his powers couldn't have come at a better time. Now he knew how they worked, Harry was delighted by the advantage they'd given him. Not only had he found a way of unlocking the Cupboard door without anyone being any the wiser, but he had begun experimenting with other powers.

"You're not gonna get away from us this time, Freak!" Dudley yelled from behind, although Harry didn't know for sure how his obese cousin was faring from this distance. He could practically almost hear the other boy's jowls and jelly belly moving up and down underneath his shirt. Dudley's clothes were a miracle of engineering, and Harry simply could not believe shops mass-produced clothes for someone of Dudley's increasing girth; it had to be custom tailored.

Harry panted. He always tried to avoid the Harry Hunts his cousin called every week, but while he was very fast he got exhausted like them all, even if he managed to find a few tactics which helped him to elude the gang.

He was tempted to find a way to hide without the gang managing to chase him, but Harry knew it would be far from simple. While he knew this was the best time to test something his powers could do, he didn't know if it would work; he was still trying to figure out just how far they could go.

Finally, Harry came to a dead-end, and since the gang were so close behind him he had no way out; he could hear them behind him, and they were very close, and in the tight confines in this dead-end, there was nothing he could do to escape what was going to come.

No!

How could he have come here so foolishly? Harry knew many of the streets in the neighbourhood which had helped him to find escape routes and hiding places which Dudley never once suspected since his cousin and his friends hadn't once considered the fact he was using the streets and the neighbourhood surroundings to his advantage. Harry looked frantically up the tall brick wall, hoping to find some inspiration, some epiphany which could get him out of this.

No such luck. There was no way out of here, and he knew it only too well. Dudley and his gang would use the runaround he'd given them to beat him up badly. Harry looked frantically up at the wall, and he suddenly remembered how he had found himself on the roof of the school. Harry remembered that day - and what the Dursleys did to him afterwards when he'd gotten back to Number 4 vividly; he had been chased by Dudley's gang than as well. He still had no idea how he had managed to do that, although he had suspected a sudden gust of wind had lifted him off the ground quickly and he had simply found himself on the roof.

Looking back he knew he'd gotten it wrong.

Harry knew his power had something to do with it, but he had no idea how he could reproduce it, although he had thought at the time he had wanted to get away from Dudley and the gang as well, he had no idea how he could reproduce the same effect.

_It would be nice if I did _know, Harry thought to himself afraid, _that would really come in handy right about now. Anything to get away from Dudley and his friends, but most of all I could find a way to use it to my advantage when I escape…_

"What'cha doin' freak?"

Harry closed his eyes when he heard the familiar voice of his cousin. He turned around slowly and watched as Dudley and the rest of the gang came closer, grins on their faces that made the large, stupid, idiotic neanderthals look like a gang of sea-pirates who'd lost dozens of their teeth in fights.

But these sea-pirates were a bunch of thugs who had never once done a day's work in their lives.

"I asked you a question, freak!" Dudley snapped, not liking being ignored.

Harry was surprised. He hadn't expected Dudley to be asking a question he wanted answering, but he still didn't reply in any way. He knew not replying to his cousin would make Dudley angrier than he was already - he could see the anger in the other boy's expression as well as the red cheeks from the unexpected exertion, which showed Dudley had not liked the runaround, and he winced when he saw the identical anger in the other boy's faces as well, and he groaned silently knowing this was not going to be nice - and he tried to muster a smile he hoped was mocking.

"Oh, you know how it is; you run around and you eventually lose your luck. How was your run, Dudley?" he went on, bravado making him careless, although he knew he was going to get beaten to a pulp in the first place, what didn't did it make?

Dudley growled and he clenched his fists and raised them threateningly. "You're gonna get yours freak!"

Wincing at Dudley's poor word use, Harry's mind frantically raced as he tried to think of a way he could get himself out of this mess with his skin intact. He considered using his power to hurt them, or at least knock them off balance long enough to let him get away, but he quickly decided against it; he knew if he tried anything like that with _their darling boy _the Dursleys would really make his life a misery.

No, he needed something else, and he needed to think of something very quickly to get out of this mess…Harry quickly went through his mind all the possible ideas he might have. He couldn't fight back, he couldn't do whatever he'd done when he'd ended up on the rooftop of the school, and he knew he couldn't go too far without Dudley tattling to his parents.

And then he remembered something.

Once the school had played the first _Star Wars _movie, and Harry had watched as Obi-Wan Kenobi waved his hand to trick the minds of those imperial stormtroopers.

Would the same thing happen here?

Harry thought about it a little, and he decided it made no difference. He closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated on his power, and he _wished the boys would leave him alone and forget they had seen him. _

"Why are we here?" Piers suddenly asked.

Harry opened his eyes and focused on the rat-faced boy who'd spoken just now. All of the gang had looks of confusion on their faces, and they didn't seem to be noticing him right now.

"I think we were chasing someone?" Gordon asked, looking dazed at the others.

At that moment another piece of 20th-century culture entered Harry's mind to inspire him. During his time in the library when he had been trying to avoid the gang and some of the teachers who wanted to have a go at him for something that wasn't even memorable, and he had gotten reading a book, a book about a scary headmaster in a kid's novel called _The Demon Headmaster. _Harry had often wondered how it would feel to hypnotise someone, and he wondered if this was the best time for such a test; he knew if he broke the spell he'd placed on these guys then they would beat him up.

He took slow breaths and he began to concentrate on his power, wanting to control these boys and make them do as he wished.

"No, you weren't," Harry stepped forward. "Look into my eyes!" he pushed a bit of his power into his voice, and the boys focused on his eyes and they became dazed looking at him blankly. "Dudley, Malcolm, Piers, Gordon…you will forget having chased me today. You will both go back to your homes, and you will say nothing happened today. Then you will either watch television, or you will do your homework and become productive members of society for a change."

"Nothing happened today," the boys replied, echoing as one, "productive members of society."

Holding back the urge to giggle at the way his plan had succeeded, Harry continued with his instructions. "When I click my fingers, you will forget seeing me today and chasing me, and when you return to full consciousness," he smiled, pleased he had learnt such a complex word very quickly, "you will carry out my orders. Goodbye," he clicked his fingers.

The boys snapped back to their ordinary selves, and they left the alley laughing at something inane and mundane. Harry was left behind, a smug grin on his face. He would need a little bit longer to see if this ability stayed and if he could do it on others, but if he did then he could do a lot more.

He laughed quietly in the dead-end, rubbing his hands.


	3. Chapter 3

Safecracker.

_Its time, _Harry thought to himself as he waited for the last sound from the Dursleys to die down until all he could hear were the sounds of Vernon and Dudley's snores from upstairs. Turning on the lightbulb so he could see what he was doing, Harry waved his hand over the door and used his power to unlock it before he switched off the light and stepped outside cautiously.

He closed the door and relocked it in case one of the Dursleys came downstairs and had the impulse to check on him while he was supposed to be sleeping. He stepped silently towards the back door knowing the front door night light was on, and the last thing he wanted to happen was anyone poking out their heads through their windows; while the majority of the street were probably in bed by now, that didn't mean one of the neighbours couldn't take a peek outside on impulse.

Harry unlocked the kitchen door and stepped outside, breathing in the cool night air. Everything smelt fresh, cool out there. He heard the sound of a cat not far away, but he couldn't see the animal from where he was, but he knew it was quite close. Harry walked through the garden to the back gate, and he unlocked it and stepped cautiously in the back alley the binmen used to collect the rubbish, the same rubbish the Dursleys forced him to take out.

Walking down the alley towards the first of three houses he was planning on burgling for tonight, Harry thought about everything that had happened during the week.

After finding out he could hypnotise Dudley and his friends, although he wasn't sure if it was truly hypnosis, Harry had continued to experiment with his newfound powers, and he had discovered he could summon things into his hands if he wanted them so much. He'd been inspired by the scene with the monster from that ice planet from the second _Star Wars _movie, where Luke Skywalker had been trying to summon his lightsaber. After he had seen that particular scene only a few days ago, he had immediately decided to try it, thinking logically it should be possible considering what he had found, but he was also amazed by just how much was being influenced by movies.

Harry had already discovered not only could he summon things, but he could also do the exact opposite and send anything flying back. He wasn't sure just at this minute what he could do with that ability, but it was helpful anyway.

During his time in school, Harry had used a combination of his hypnotic power to entice some of the other students into giving him some money or food, and he had been using a variant of his hypnotic power to go unnoticed when he had considered the other possibilities of what he could do with it, and he had stolen from some of the other students. Harry had discovered he liked using both methods to get what he wanted, but it was still too early for him to work out precisely which of the two he preferred to use; making people get him what he wanted was satisfying because he could simply tell him what they wanted, and no suspicion would fall on him.

And yet….

A part of him preferred the second method since he found a _thrill _of taking things from others by using his own hands, and with the means of going virtually invisible so no-one noticed him or anything he was doing, Harry felt he could do anything he wanted.

He had realised something important.

He could steal in order to find a way out of Number 4, and away from this dump. Best of all, if he kept his nerve he could escape without any trouble. The only downside Harry did not like was he had nearly been noticed. It had been near the end of lunch when someone noticed him taking a packet of smarties out of their lunch box. Harry had needed to hypnotise the other student so they thought _they _had eaten the smarties instead.

It had been a reminder to him to always keep his guard up at all times.

After spending a good few minutes finding his way through the dark, Harry reached the first house. He waved his hand and the door opened. Stepping inside the garden, Harry looked around appraisingly for a moment, but the garden was too dark for him to really take in the details. And the moon wasn't out so it was dark.

Harry walked slowly towards the backdoor. He lifted his hand to unlock the door, but he realised he didn't know if this house owned a dog. He lowered his hand and thought for a moment about what he was going to do. He raised his hand while he focused on his hypnotic powers and he waved his hand, hoping that the power he had was strong enough to induce everyone to fall into a very deep sleep.

"Sleep," he said softly to direct the spell, closing his eyes to make it partway strong but not too strong otherwise they would sleep forever while he directed his mind to ensure everything inside the house was deeply asleep while he was inside. "You are so relaxed, you will be sleeping through everything until morning. You will wake up normally."

Once he was finished, and he was hoping the homeowners did wake up like they normally did although Harry doubted anyone would really think they'd been hypnotised.

Harry waved his hand and unlocked the door before he stepped in slowly, sniffing the interior and wrinkling his nose with distaste when he caught the scent inside. However, he ignored that and he waved his hand, mentally summoning some of the money inside the house while he made sure the coins didn't travel through the air like really small, really thin bullets which would split his skull in half; he had come across a reference of coins being dropped from a height some several storeys high, and causing terrific damage below. The notes came first, and he closed his eyes and willed his power to lie down flat on his outstretched hand before the coins arrived and arranged themselves very neatly in his palm.

Harry opened his eye and smiled when he saw even in the dim light the amount of money currently in his hand. He took out the small bin bag he had placed in his pocket earlier, using his power to open it up, and he sent the money into the bag before he left the house.

XXX

The second house was just as simple to burgle - he only had to wave his hand and use his hypnotic power to make sure everyone was asleep before he unlocked the door and summoned the money. The next house was different because as he quickly realised although he could steal as much money as he'd like, he decided it was time to steal from the bedrooms themselves.

Harry stood in the doorway of the third kitchen as he had for the previous two burglaries, and after he had summoned the money from the rest of the house, he felt it had been a productive night since his experiments with hypnotising the residents had worked. He was just about to leave when he stopped, pausing on the threshold and he looked back into the darkened interior of the house.

_I've just stolen from them, does it really make any difference if I go much further? _A sly smile crossed Harry's face, and he walked slowly up the stairs. He knew this family. The Dursleys had rented him out as a slave to the rest of the residents, and while they weren't as nasty to him as some of the others, he didn't like them either since they used him as slave labour. Harry had found himself losing a lot of his morals during the last week as he had stolen from the students in school. He didn't have any problem going upstairs, but as he did he ensured the sleeping spell he'd placed on the school continued to work.

He got to the bedroom very quickly, and he stood in the doorway. Harry took a moment to study the occupants. The couple who lived here was basically a watered-down version of the Dursleys, but then again since everyone in this dull neighbourhood was infected by the disease which was known as suburbia, it was impossible to meet anyone with individuality. Harry pushed those thoughts to the side, and he opened up his bag before he closed his eyes and he held his hands out before he summoned the jewellery into his hand.

He felt a number of strange objects pile into his hand slowly and he ran his thumb over one of them. It certainly felt different in his hands, and once he had gotten them he banished them into the bag while making sure there was little noise. Harry smiled at the couple, wondering idly just how they would feel, how all of them would feel when he'd burgled them.

Harry turned around and walked out of the bedroom, starting the journey back to Number 4 Privet Drive.


End file.
